"Command Presence." Can it be learned?

[VaSteve]

Originally Posted by tabs

Ok...don't confuse intellect with all that there is to substance..substance is the blend of intellect with emotion..

No confusion at all.....100% intellect is like that pasty white dude in the basement of Area 51 in the movie Independence Day but without the Hollywood flourish.

But we digress.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by VaSteve

I've done a little studying on Lincoln this year (we have used his experience as a backdrop to a leadership class at my work). I think in those days you certainly had a lot more time to reflect on things aside from being in the 24 hour news/twitter/youtube/facebook environment. Without the media, other things matter. Lincoln was a ugly dude with a supposedly high pitched reedy voice. You couldn't elect a guy like that today no matter the qualifications.

Things in the scheme of things don't change very much....Lincoln was elected when he was 52...so it took him a lot of time to work things out...it is a matter of perspective and paying attention to those details as you go along..working things out one piece at a time making sense of each and everyone...

Ii wouldn't count Linoln out today..

[tabs]

Originally Posted by VaSteve

No confusion at all.....100% intellect is like that pasty white dude in the basement of Area 51 in the movie Independence Day but without the Hollywood flourish.

But we digress.

Substance is substance and there can never be too much...maybe having too much substance does not equate with being a pasty white dude in a basement..

[tabs]

Originally Posted by speeder

Took the words right out of my typing finger. I was just reading this thread for the first time, thinking about self-confidence, which is basically what we are talking about here. You need to be secure in who you are and not overly concerned with what others might think of you; whether or not they are impressed, etc...

It helps to be a little older and to have "paid your dues", at least in my experience. I have absolutely no one to impress in this world, I'm at peace w/ myself and others and I think that it is apparent most of the time. I've seen the man behind the curtain and met a lot of my heros on this earth, it's always a pleasure but I don't feel like I need to *measure up* to them or anyone else. I'm a one-off roadster, not another one like it in the world.

I've had the advantage of being around great and humble men, they inspire. There is no way that I could ever puff my chest out or hang my head like a coward after meeting Sydney Poitier or George Harrison, (or Seahawk's Admiral), I wanted to be like them. I never will be, but it's all in the striving, son...

I am a somebody even if I am a nobody.

Take a look at Van Gogh..never even sold a painting in his life time and is now considered to be one of the greatest if not THE greatest artist ever...

[DavidI]

I believe Command Presence is a state of mind. Most people want to feel "safe." If they believe the person in charge will protect them, whether that be physically, socially, or mentally, they will follow him or her. When the world starts running in chaos and panic, the leader steps in and brings calmness. The calmness comes from self esteem, experience, ability. In some cases, the calmness can be simply an image.

The type of leader who cares about his people, not "mothers" or coddles them, but cares about them and inspires them will always be the most successful.

Leadership and Management are very different.

Leadership deals with people.

Management deals with objects.

Superman, you are a wise man my friend! You put a great deal of thought into your post. I am impressed.

[ckissick]

Born with command presence: Clint Eastwood

No chance: Don Knotts

[tabs]

Originally Posted by DavidI

I believe Command Presence is a state of mind. Most people want to feel "safe." If they believe the person in charge will protect them, whether that be physically, socially, or mentally, they will follow him or her. When the world starts running in chaos and panic, the leader steps in and brings calmness. The calmness comes from self esteem, experience, ability. In some cases, the calmness can be simply an image.

The type of leader who cares about his people, not "mothers" or coddles them, but cares about them and inspires them will always be the most successful.

Leadership and Management are very different.

Leadership deals with people.

Management deals with objects.

Superman, you are a wise man my friend! You put a great deal of thought into your post. I am impressed.

Clarity of purpose in a crisis...knowing what to do and doing it when the chips are down or are in play.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by ckissick

Born with command presence: Clint Eastwood

No chance: Don Knotts

Also Gary Cooper and Greg Peck....had that screen persona..

But here we are dealing with image perhaps more than reality.

Born with it? Certainly one can be predisposed with the personality trait. But one thinks that it has more to do with how a child is taught how to deal with problems from observing how ones parents deal with their problems.

Henry lV at Agincourt...

and GEORGE WASHINGTON...the man was the glue...

[Hugh R]

Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney exudes it like no one that I have ever seen.

[djmcmath]

Originally Posted by tabs

I don't find that military officers of high rank have that much sagacity.

Often true, tragically. But also often not true, in my experience. I've met some very wise senior officers. History books are full of generals who look like what you're describing, but a lot of the day-to-day executive leadership in the military is done by men who quietly do great things and will never have their name in the history books.

@Superman -- thank you for the points. You've clearly done this a LOT. Thanks also for the encouragement -- this is something that's important to me, so I am definitely trying to "be something that I'm not," in the sense that I need to improve in this area.

@gatotom -- Congratulations to your son! My brother was USNA '05 (now flies for the Marines out of Japan), I was USNA '99, and my father-in-law was USNA '76. Go Navy, beat Army!! (My Dad had to offer a lot of similar encouragement to get me through as well, btw.)

Originally Posted by VaSteve

The question you ask is more fundamental. You mention looking like your in command but refer to first impressions.

True. Over time, people tend to realize that I am a leader. After a while, people -- my peers, even people senior to me, positionally -- follow me because I care about them, because I listen, because I don't ask of them anything that I wouldn't do myself, because I build teams and take people to successful places, because I make carefully considered decisions. While I am not the Great Leader that I want to be, I understand that this is a long process of slow daily improvement, and I am working on that path. But unless someone actually says, "Dan over there is the leader," people don't know up front. That's what I'm asking about here, really. How do you develop that assertive, confident, silent authority?

@tabs and Hugh -- is it worth hunting down video of these people to study and emulate their persona? Should I work to mimic their body language?


Thanks,
Dan

[The Gaijin]

Originally Posted by Hugh R

Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney exudes it like no one that I have ever seen.

Reckford has got a ton of it as well. Left Disney to become Habitat for Humanity CEO. A great listener, and connects with groups large and small.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by tabs

I think the really great military commanders of history thought of warfare in the most unmilitary of terms..being able to asses the strengths and weaknesses of their foes and by observing when opportunity knocked.

=.223 dipped in pigs blood?(edit: please ignore the parf)


My meat suit with pink afro commands attention, but only temporarely.

The problem with the modern generation in western culture is the deficit of attention span, and the willingness to abandon belief systems on a whim.
There is such an onslaught of changing information to be processed on a daily basis that it is difficult for the modern mindset to function from a consistant set of principles.
The instantly-available means of modern communication/entertainment only compile this lack of reprieve.

I think the loss of the family unit has some blame in this. The grandparents used to live at home, and had the time to pass on wisdom, values, and self-worth while the parents were gone.

[djmcmath]

Originally Posted by VaSteve

Search on the book and author "you say more than you think" by janine driver. She has some tips on how you can overcome your natural "look" to appear more in command, etc. An interesting read.

Ok -- bought it, read it, working through the homework. (I read a LOT faster than I can keep up with the homework.) Good book, and thank you for the recommendation, Steve.

I've also started paying close attention to the people I know who have it -- their gestures, their mannerisms, the way the talk and interact with people. I'm cherry-picking the best attributes from the leaders in my life and trying to emulate those. Fortunately, I'm in a job with regular exposure to some very senior guys.

Any other ideas? Good books? Movies I should watch with an eye to learning something?

Thanks again,
Dan

[Z-man]

I just started a course on leadership, so this thread is very timely for me.

As stated - there are leaders, and there are managers. Sometimes, managers have leadership skills, sometimes they don't. Often, a leader is someone who has little or no positional power, yet is still able to influence a situation in a positive way.

There are countless studies and theories on leadership. For example:

Traits -- leadership is based on the traits a person has. Primary traits of a leader are :
- Personal characteristics: energy, passion, physical stamina
- Intelligence and ability: intelligence, conginitive ability, knowledge, judgement, decisvieness
- Personality: optimism, self-confidence, honesty and integrity, enthusiasm, charisma, desire to lead, independance
- Social Characteristics: sociability, interpersonal skills, cooperativeness, ability to enlist cooperation, tact, diplomacy
- Work-Related Characteristics: drive, desire to excel, responsibility in pursuitof goals, persistence against obstacles, tenacity
- Social Background: education, mobility
(Many studies showed that the traits in bold are especially prevailent in leaders)

Then came studies on behavior - how a leader acts and reacts to others -- is it autocratic leadership (one who centralizes authority and derives power from position) or democratic leadership (one who delegates authority to others, encourages participation, and relies on subordinates).

Next came leadership orientation: is the leader task-oriented or people oriented? Some roles of leadership require a leader to be more focused on one or the other; sometimes in the same position, a leader must adjust from being a task-oriented vs. people-oriented leader - think of it as a grid with four quadrants -- high-task, low people -- low task, low people -- low-task, high people -- high task, high people. (Ex of high-task, low people: assembly line manager. Ex of high-people, high task: CEO of a company facing peril).

Finally, there's theories that a good leader is a dynamic leader who adjusts his style based on the relationship between his followers and the situation, employing his traits, behaviors, and orientation to influence his followers and to produce a positive final outcome.

This stuff is in the first three chapters of a book required for class: The Leadership Experience Richard Daft.

A lot of it makes sense - the biggest thing for me is someone who has the right traits and behaviors and is dynamic to the point where he can adjust his leadership style to meet the situation at hand.

-Z-man.

[Gordo2]

Know yourself and seek self-improvement.
Be technically and tactically proficient.
Develop a sense of responsibility among your subordinates.
Make sound and timely decisions.
Set the example.
Know your marines and look out for their welfare.
Keep your marines informed.
Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions.
Ensure assigned tasks are understood, supervised, and accomplished.
Train your marines as a team.
Employ your command in accordance with its capabilities.

Applies to Marines as well as anyone in a leadership position.

Command presence only gets you so far - its the reputation for possessing leadership qualities that separates those with true command presence and those who sometimes pass as having command presence.

Gordo

[tabs]

Whatever it is TABS has it!

[Mothy]

Rotary in Australia (and posibly world wide) run week long leadership courses called RYLA or Rotary Youth leadership Awards, aimed at selecting people 18-23yrs who have already shown themselves to have good leadership potential, and takes them thru various trainings session to teach them the skills for good advanced leadership. They have great role models such as national sport team captains, senior polititions and business leaders come along as guest speakers.

One of the key messages they give is that you don't need to be in charge to be a leader. But if you are in charge, you will be so much better if you are a leader.

Lost count of the number of managers I have seen who forget to lead, too busy keeping their job instead of doing their job.

Nearly every time i have encountered someone with Command Presence, they have been a leader. As for me, whatever I am I just want to be a good one.

[cbush]

Originally Posted by tabs

Whatever it is TABS has it!

Well, at least the self confidence part

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by djmcmath

Ok, I've got a leadership question for the group.

There are some men whose mere presence commands respect. They walk into the room and people just say "That guy must be the leader, even though he hasn't said anything yet." The ones that I've met are mostly Admirals and Captains, though I'm also finding a few of these among senior businessmen now that I'm out of the Navy. I would suspect that a number of you also possess this attribute.

Is this something that can be learned, or is it just something these people were born with? Public speaking, assertiveness training, reading more books on leadership ... is there anything that can be done to train this attribute? Thoughts?


Thanks,
Dan

If you don't think much of yourself no one else will either.

It cannot be learned, it cannot be faked. It is a byproduct of who you are.

Outline your guiding principals, the things that if followed will make you a good person and a good leader. Then work at them, live them, become that good person and leader. Be able to look yourself in the mirror and be proud of who you are deep down.

Mine are basically this:
The success of the team, of those around you, that is what is important.
Never put yourself before the team.
Make decisions based on what is right, not what is fast, cheap, or easy.
Use common sense and logic to make decisions, not emotion.
Share your decision-making criteria with the team, let them know why you decide what you do.
develop others so that they can replace you.
Help others on the team grow and develop to their full potential, their success dictates yours. Sometimes that means helping them, somtimes it means a pat on the back or a kick in the pants.
Be consistantly moral. All the time, no matter what. Never compromise your morals or principals for personal benefit.
Be honest!
Be able to admit that you don't have all the answers but know where and how to find them.
Leave a legacy. When you retire or leave the company, be able to look back at the team and be proud of who they are, how they've grown as good moral productive people, and know that you played a part in that.

If you pull that off, the presence will take care of itself. It will take you a lifetime and you will never achieve it all. The effort is what matters.

[motion]

Originally Posted by djmcmath

Any other ideas? Good books? Movies I should watch with an eye to learning something?

Thanks again,
Dan

Check out Mad Men on Netflix. Study how Jon Hamm does it. They do a great job of portraying him as someone who commands respect.